Important Collectors Watches, Pocket ...

Geneva, Mar 29, 2009

LOT 408

Orrery Astrolabium Celestial Clock Christiaan Van der Klaauw, Joure, No. 42. Made in a limited edition of 50 pieces in 1993. Extremely fine and highly complicated, gilt brass and silver, astronomic, hour and halfhour striking, 8-day going, four-sided table clock with orrery, zodiac indication, length of months indication, triple date calendar, astrolabium with displaced zodiac circle for projection of the ecliptic, 24-hour analog dial for indication of the sun?s azimuth and altitude, moon orbit indication, dragon hand for eclipse prediction, number of week indication, year indication to 2001, sky charts of the northern and southern hemispheres with position indication and 24-hour indication. Accompanied by a fitted wooden travelling case with carrying handle and brass plaque.

C. Rectangular, polished and matte gilt brass, four-sided, outset ionic column at each corner, balustraded gallery above with a turned spire finial at each corner, armillary sphere supported by three solid silver seated Atlas figures, pierced zodiac band around the circumference, orrery inside the sphere with the planets and their moons mounted on six arms rotating around the central gold sun, silvered chapter for the zodiac and months with their respective number of days, central black pointer hand, the whole raised on a moulded base with bun feet. D. First: brushed silvered chapter ring with radial Roman numerals, half-hour markers, outer minute track, inner quarter-hour track, subsidiary chapters for the date and months, scroll engraved gilt brass mask. Pierced black steel hands. Second: With painted sky chart of the Northern Hemisphere at 47 degrees NB and 0 degrees OL, elliptical brushed silvered border engraved ?Nordlicher Sternhimmel?, outer rotating ring for the months and star position, outer ring for 24-hours in Roman numerals, subsidiary silvered chapter below for the days of the week, scroll engraved gilt brass mask. Black steel arrow and beetle hands. Third: With painted sky chart of the Southern Hemisphere at 47 degrees ZB and 0 degrees OL, elliptical brushed silvered border engraved ?Sudlicher Sternhimmel?, outer rotating ring for the months and star position, outer ring for 24-hours in Roman numerals, subsidiary silvered chapter below for the maker?s signature, scroll engraved gilt brass mask. Black steel arrow hands. Fourth: Astrolabium, outer silvered chapter for the 24-hour analog dial for the sun?s azimuth and altitude with I-XII Roman numerals in each half, inner degrees of arc, the center engraved with stereographic projection of circular lines for the portion of the astrolabe above the horizon, pierced gilt brass displaced zodiac circle for projection of the ecliptic - the path of the sun and planets through the sky, and the plane of the earth's orbit, subsidiary chapters below for the number of the week and year indication. Black and gold hand for moon indication, sun hand for local time indication, dragon hand for eclipse prediction, black steel beetle hands for subsidiary dials. M. Mechanical, 8-day going, striking the hours and half-hours on a gong. Dial signed. Dim. 39 x 14 x 14 cm.